In Half 1 of this collectionwe examined the ache factors that make conventional group medical insurance difficult for trucking firms: unpredictable premium will increase, one-size-fits-all protection that does not match numerous workforces, heavy administrative burden, restrictive participation necessities, and restricted flexibility in plan design.
The excellent news? There’s a greater strategy to trucking firm medical insurance that solves these issues whereas providing you with price predictability and operational simplicity.
Well being Reimbursement Preparations (HRAs) essentially change how transportation firms present well being advantages. As a substitute of buying a bunch coverage with unpredictable renewals and administrative complications, you set a hard and fast month-to-month allowance and workers buy particular person protection that matches their particular wants. You get funds certainty, they get alternative and portability, and everybody advantages from simplified administration.
On this information, we’ll clarify how HRAs work for transportation firms, the distinction between ICHRA and QSEHRA, and learn how to decide which choice is true to your fleet.
Understanding HRA for transportation: A unique strategy
Well being Reimbursement Preparations essentially restructure the connection between employers and medical insurance. As a substitute of buying a bunch coverage, you present workers with a month-to-month allowance to buy particular person medical insurance protection.
There are two main forms of HRAs related to trucking firms:
QSEHRA (Certified Small Employer HRA): Designed for firms with fewer than 50 workers. As of 2026, the utmost reimbursement beneath a QSEHRA plan is $6,450 for a single worker’s protection and $13,100 for household protection. All full-time workers should be supplied the identical profit quantity.
Study extra about QSEHRA limits in 2026
ICHRA (Particular person Protection HRA): Accessible to firms of any measurement with no contribution limits. Permits employers to create totally different worker lessons (comparable to full-time drivers, part-time warehouse workers, salaried workers, or workers in several geographic areas) and supply totally different reimbursement quantities to every class.
For each forms of HRAs, the mechanics are simple: you set a month-to-month reimbursement quantity, workers buy particular person medical insurance, and also you reimburse them tax-free for his or her premiums (as much as your set quantity). Workers preserve their particular person protection even when they modify jobs, and also you preserve full price predictability.
How HRAs deal with trucking firm ache factors
HRAs aren’t only a totally different method to supply medical insurance—they’re particularly designed to unravel the issues that make group insurance coverage tough for companies like trucking firms.
Fastened, predictable prices
With an HRA, you resolve precisely how a lot to contribute per worker or worker class, and that quantity does not change until you select to vary it. Should you set a $500 month-to-month allowance for drivers, you may spend $500 per driver per 30 days, not $500 this 12 months and $625 subsequent 12 months due to claims expertise or service fee will increase.
This transforms well being advantages from a variable expense into a hard and fast price, much like wages. You possibly can challenge your advantages prices for the following three, 5, or ten years with confidence. When bidding on contracts or planning enlargement, exactly what your per-employee well being profit prices will probably be.
For a trucking firm that was paying $750 per worker per 30 days for group insurance coverage and going through a 30% renewal enhance, switching to an ICHRA with a $550 month-to-month allowance supplies rapid price financial savings of over $200 per worker month-to-month, or $2,400 per worker yearly. For a 50-employee firm, that is $120,000 in annual financial savings…financial savings which can be assured to not evaporate at subsequent 12 months’s renewal.
Flexibility for numerous workforces
ICHRA’s class-based construction solves the one-size-fits-all drawback. You possibly can supply totally different reimbursement quantities primarily based on:
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Employment standing (full-time vs. part-time)
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Geographic location (state or area)
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Job class (drivers vs. warehouse vs. workplace)
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Wage vs. hourly standing
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Seasonal vs. year-round employment
Study extra about ICHRA worker lessons
A trucking firm with operations in California, Texas, and Ohio would possibly supply $650/month to California workers (the place particular person insurance coverage is dearer), $500/month to Texas workers, and $550/month to Ohio workers. This ensures workers in all states can entry high quality protection whereas avoiding overpaying in low-cost markets.
Equally, you would possibly supply long-haul drivers $600/month whereas providing part-time dock staff $400/month, reflecting totally different aggressive pressures for these positions.
The result’s that every worker class will get an applicable profit with out forcing everybody into the identical mildew.
Minimal administrative burden
HRA administration is dramatically easier than managing group medical insurance. As a substitute of coordinating enrollment home windows, managing COBRA, answering detailed protection questions, and serving because the go-between with insurance coverage carriers, you’re employed with an HRA administrator who handles the operational complexity.
With Take Command as your HRA administrator, we handle the plan doc setup, compliance notices, worker schooling, reimbursement processing, and ongoing help. Your function is proscribed to the strategic selections: figuring out reimbursement quantities for every worker class and funding the HRA by way of your common payroll course of.
Workers enroll in particular person protection throughout the annual open enrollment interval (November 1 – January 15) or throughout qualifying life occasions. Take Command supplies personalised steering to assist them navigate {the marketplace}, evaluate plans, and enroll in protection that matches their wants. As soon as enrolled, workers submit proof of protection and reimbursements course of mechanically every month.
For trucking firms, this drastically reduces inner advantages administration time, releasing up HR capability for recruiting, coaching, security applications, and different operational priorities.
No participation necessities
With an HRA, there isn’t any minimal participation threshold. Whether or not 20% of your workers or 100% select to enroll in particular person protection and declare reimbursements does not have an effect on your means to supply the profit.
That is significantly helpful for trucking firms with numerous workforces. Half-time workers who’re lined beneath a partner’s plan can decline particular person protection. Workers who stay on their mother and father’ plans can decide out. Seasonal staff who solely want protection for a part of the 12 months can enroll throughout their employment interval.
You continue to supply a helpful profit to everybody, however you are not compelled to govern plan design or contribution ranges to hit synthetic participation targets.
Worker alternative and portability
When workers store for particular person protection, they select plans that match their particular wants. A driver who frequently sees specialists can prioritize a plan with these docs in-network. An worker with a continual situation can choose protection that features their present suppliers and medicines. A household can select protection with robust pediatric advantages.
This alternative creates greater satisfaction with advantages. As a substitute of being assigned a plan that will or could not work for his or her state of affairs, workers actively choose protection they worth.
Particular person protection can also be transportable. When an worker leaves your organization, their medical insurance does not finish, they merely proceed paying the premiums themselves. This continuity advantages the worker and eliminates COBRA administration to your firm.
QSEHRA vs. ICHRA: Selecting the best match
For trucking firms with fewer than 50 workers, the selection between QSEHRA and ICHRA will depend on your particular wants.
Select QSEHRA if:
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You need the only potential implementation
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The contribution limits ($6,450 single / $13,100 household yearly) are enough to your market
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You are comfy providing the identical profit to all full-time workers
- You need minimal ongoing administration
Select ICHRA if:
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You wish to supply totally different quantities to totally different worker teams
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You need flexibility to regulate contribution quantities as your organization grows
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The QSEHRA contribution limits really feel restrictive to your aggressive wants
- You use in a number of states and wish to regulate for geographic price variations
Many small trucking firms begin with QSEHRA for its simplicity and may transition to ICHRA later in the event that they develop past 50 workers or need extra flexibility in plan design.
Making the choice
For many trucking firms going through group insurance coverage renewals with double-digit will increase, the monetary case for HRAs is obvious. The mix of rapid price financial savings, long-term predictability, and administrative simplification makes HRAs a strategic answer slightly than only a advantages choice. Evaluating medical insurance for trucking firms means wanting past simply premium prices to contemplate administrative burden and suppleness.
Working with an skilled HRA administrator who understands the transportation business ensures a clean transition and ongoing compliance. The administrator handles plan paperwork, worker schooling, reimbursement processing, and regulatory necessities, permitting you to give attention to operating your trucking enterprise whereas providing aggressive well being advantages that assist appeal to and retain high quality drivers.
Conventional trucking firm medical insurance does not have to empty your funds or restrict your development. HRAs present an answer that offers you predictable prices, administrative simplicity, and the aggressive advantages you have to appeal to and retain workers.
Prepared to realize management over your trucking firm’s medical insurance prices? Discuss to a Take Command professional to discover how ICHRA or QSEHRA can present predictable budgets and aggressive advantages to your drivers and workers.
Ceaselessly requested questions on HRAs for trucking firms
Can we nonetheless supply an HRA if we’ve got drivers in a number of states?
Sure, and that is really one of many greatest benefits of HRAs for multi-state operations. Every worker purchases particular person protection of their state of residence, so that you need not discover a group plan with enough networks throughout all of your working areas. ICHRA even lets you set totally different reimbursement quantities by state to account for geographic price variations.
What occurs to our HRA if we develop past 50 workers?
Should you begin with a QSEHRA and develop past 50 workers, you’ll be able to transition to an ICHRA at your subsequent plan 12 months. ICHRA works the identical method however removes the contribution caps and lets you create worker lessons with totally different reimbursement quantities. Your HRA administrator may also help you make this transition seamlessly.
Do we’ve got to supply the HRA to all workers, together with part-time drivers?
No. You possibly can select which worker lessons are eligible to your HRA. Many trucking firms supply HRAs solely to full-time workers, or create separate lessons for part-time staff with totally different (or no) reimbursement quantities. You have got flexibility to design the profit construction that is sensible for your small business.
How do reimbursements work for workers who’re on the street throughout open enrollment?
Take Command supplies ongoing help all year long, not simply throughout open enrollment. Drivers can enroll in protection from wherever with web entry, and our workforce is on the market by cellphone or e-mail to information them by way of the method. As soon as enrolled, reimbursements course of mechanically every month with out requiring ongoing motion from the worker.
What if an worker cannot afford the total premium even with our HRA reimbursement?
Many workers qualify for premium tax credit on the ACA market primarily based on their family earnings, which may considerably scale back their out-of-pocket prices. Take Command helps workers perceive whether or not they’re eligible for these subsidies and learn how to apply them. In some instances, the mix of your HRA reimbursement and market subsidies means workers pay little to nothing for protection.
